Housing costs cover different items for different types of tenure. For owners who have no mortgage, housing costs comprise the rates paid. For owners with a mortgage, housing costs consist of the value of the mortgage payments as well as property rates. For households renting their dwelling, housing costs comprise the regular rental amounts paid to landlords.

In the 2002-03 Survey of Income and Housing, owners with a mortgage reported average housing costs of $246 per week, somewhat higher than the average housing costs for other forms of tenure (table 8.7). Households renting from private landlords had average weekly housing costs of $189, compared with $81 for tenants of state or territory housing authorities. However, comparisons between the gross private rents paid and the rents paid by tenants of housing authorities do not account for those private renters receiving CRA. Whereas housing authority tenants pay a reduced rent, CRA recipients receive additional benefits from the Australian Government to enable higher private rents to be paid.

Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Income and Housing, 2002-03.

For many households, weekly housing costs are a significant proportion of their gross weekly income. In 2002-03 housing costs represented 17% of gross weekly income for owners with a mortgage, 18% of gross weekly income for tenants of a state or territory housing authority and 20% of gross weekly income for tenants renting from a private landlord (table 8.7). Housing costs as a proportion of income differed depending on tenure type, landlord type and household composition (graph 8.8 and table 8.9). However, treating CRA as a rent subsidy rather than as a component of income would reduce the difference in rents between private renters and housing authority tenants.
See also Housing costs - capital cities, which focuses on capital city households, drawing on results from the same survey.

8.9 OWNER AND RENTER HOUSEHOLDS, Housing costs as a proportion of income - 2002-03

Renter

Housing costs as a proportion of income

Units

Ownerwithout a
mortgage

Ownerwith a
mortgage

State/territory
housing
authority

Private
landlord

Total(a)

Total

25% or less

%

96.8

71.1

78.5

57.0

61.4

77.9

More than 25-30%

%

*0.2

9.6

10.6

10.6

10.8

6.5

More than 30-50%

%

0.5

12.8

9.5

21.2

18.8

9.9

More than 50%(b)

%

2.5

6.5

*1.3

11.2

9.1

5.7

Total

%

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Total households

'000

2,780.4

2,525.0

372.8

1,680.2

2,153.3

7,458.6

(a) Includes other landlord types.(b) Includes households with nil or negative total income.

Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Income and Housing, 2002-03.